Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00008A
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00:22 Hello, and welcome to "Books Of The Book".
00:24 My name is Deyvy Rodriguez and with us is Dr. Tom Shepherd. 00:28 He is currently a professor 00:29 of New Testament interpretation at Andrews University. 00:32 And now we are studying 00:34 the writings of the apostle Peter. 00:36 Welcome back again, Dr. Shepherd. 00:38 Could you outline it for us 00:39 how this section of the book unfolds? 00:42 Okay. Now, just to review, 00:45 if we look at the outline of the book of Peter, 00:47 here we have a graphic that shows us this. 00:50 We have been studying the first section of the book, 00:53 which is Chapter 1:1-2:10 00:58 that's establishing the household of God. 01:00 We've seen the beautiful lay out 01:02 that he has of the rebirth experience, 01:05 the metaphors of growth, the household of God, 01:08 and now we come to the second section which is part B. 01:12 And in this second section of the outline 01:17 we see that he has-- 01:20 "how Christians are to live in the world." 01:24 This central section of the book goes from chapter 2:11-4:11. 01:30 And he's going to talk about relating to people around us, 01:34 who are mostly out side the church, 01:37 vindication that is coming and then more instruction 01:40 about living as a Christian. 01:42 Then we'll see later on where he'll come to the last part 01:45 about facing trouble and facing each other, 01:47 that's the very last section of the book. 01:49 But right now we're just entering 01:51 in to this central portion of the book. 01:55 And so we want to take a look 01:58 and see what the apostle Peter has to say here. 02:02 Okay, where are we picking up on? 02:04 So we're gonna pick up in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 2. 02:08 So, if you'll read for us 1 Peter 2:11, 12. 02:14 "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, 02:18 abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 02:22 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, 02:26 that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, 02:29 by your good works which they observe, 02:32 glorify God in the day of visitation." 02:36 Okay, Now have you-- did you notice any words in here 02:39 that we've heard before in this book. 02:42 Yeah, conduct, I think we read that verse previously. 02:47 Conduct or conduct among the gentiles, 02:49 any thing else that it said. Sojourners, pilgrims. 02:52 Sojourners, pilgrims, that's exactly right. 02:54 You are the Sojourners and pilgrims you see-- 02:56 Now in this verse he uses Sojourners 02:58 whereas at first he only said pilgrims. 03:02 Yeah, he has-- he has several terms 03:05 that he uses for this kind of experience 03:08 of not fitting in with the world 03:10 and being, you know, strange to them. 03:14 So remember it is because 03:17 you are the chosen people of God 03:20 that you are a stranger in the world. 03:23 So, now he is reminding them of this again, 03:27 he is transitioning from the first section 03:29 where he's defined the church, the people-- 03:32 the household of God, and now he is saying, 03:34 "Okay, so now, tell what are you supposed to do 03:36 in relationship to them?" 03:38 And of course he makes this emphasis 03:42 on conduct once again, doesn't he. 03:44 He says to abstain from the passions of the flesh. 03:47 Well, he talked about those. 03:49 They wage war against to your soul. 03:51 He says, "Keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable. 03:55 So that when they speak against you as evil doers 03:58 they may see your good deeds 04:00 and glorify God on the day of visitation." 04:02 So, your good deeds as a Christian 04:05 has some kind of impact on the world around. 04:08 Now, it doesn't mean that every body 04:10 in the world around will be saved. 04:11 But there are those who will be saved, 04:14 will be drawn into this fellowship of faith 04:16 as they see your conduct, you know, that stands out. 04:21 So this transitional part, you know, 04:24 leads us into the next part. 04:25 And he talks about the contrast of the Christian to the world 04:29 and he talks about the role of our way of life. 04:32 And that's gonna become an important theme 04:35 in this second section of the book 04:37 that we turned to now. 04:39 And that starts in Chapter 2:13 04:44 so we want to read verses 13-17. 04:48 "Therefore submit yourselves 04:50 to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, 04:53 whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, 04:57 as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers 05:01 and for the praise of those who do good. 05:03 For this is the will of God, that by doing good 05:06 you may put to silence 05:08 the ignorance of foolish me as free, 05:11 yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, 05:14 but as bondservants of God. 05:17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. 05:20 Fear God. Honor the king." 05:22 So, seems like our life style is a form of witnessing them. 05:27 Absolutely. Yeah. Definitely. 05:30 That's important theme for Peter. 05:34 This is part of the answer to this question of holiness 05:37 and connection or linkage or facing the world, you see? 05:43 And that is that the holy lifestyle 05:46 is to face the worlds. 05:49 The world around us-- now people might say, 05:52 "Well Peters, people, couldn't escape the world 05:54 because, you know, they were 1 in 100. 05:57 So, 99% of the people around them were not Christian." 06:01 You know, but, there is no excuse 06:05 for going often being hermits, you see? 06:07 Peter doesn't have that kind of approach. 06:09 He talks about a holy lifestyle that faces them, 06:12 that is in contact with them all the time, 06:15 is in touch with the world around. 06:17 We separate ourselves too much from the world. 06:20 We go often to little enclaves, you know, or ghettos, 06:26 you know, and stay to ourselves. 06:30 No, we need to have contact 06:32 with people that are part of the world. 06:35 Because guess what, the light has an impact. 06:38 The light has an influence. 06:39 It draws people, you know? 06:42 Now, of course there are some people 06:43 who don't like the light. 06:45 Jesus said that. You know, they like the darkness. 06:47 But, those who are attracted to light, 06:50 boy, when the light comes, 06:51 they're just really touched by it. 06:53 Remember, Peter called it 06:54 "marvelous light, "marvelous light. 06:58 Now, we've got to think some about the government officials 07:02 that are mentioned here in these verses. 07:06 It's very interesting. He uses--my translation says, 07:11 "Be subject for the Lord's sake," in verse 13. 07:14 What does yours say? "Submit yourselves." 07:16 "Submit yourselves." Yeah. 07:17 This is going to be an overarching theme 07:20 in this section, the concept of submission. 07:23 It's kind of a dirty word 07:24 for some people in the Christian church today. 07:26 They don't like this idea of submission. 07:29 But Peter has said-- he makes this quite a big theme, 07:34 and frankly all of us in life who are in one place or another 07:38 find ourselves in a position where we have to submit. 07:42 For most of us it's in the work place. 07:45 There is a boss. 07:47 And he says, "I want you to do this." 07:48 And you say, "Okay, boss, sure we do." 07:52 You're submitting to the boss. 07:53 So, interestingly, Peter says that we are to be subject 07:57 for the Lord's sake to every human, what? 08:02 What's the term in your passage? 08:05 "For the Lord's sake, whether for ordinance of men." 08:09 Ordinance of men. 08:11 A lot of these mind sets to every human institution. 08:15 Now, the word institution here is a very interesting word. 08:20 It is the word creation. 08:24 Institution is for creation-- 08:27 The underline Greek word Ktisis means creature or creation. 08:33 Okay. 08:35 Now, this is--some people say, "Well, you know, 08:38 it's a human creation so then it must be a human institution 08:41 and then he is talking about government officials, 08:44 so he must be talking about institutions of the state. 08:46 Right?" Well, yes and no. 08:50 All right. The word creation implies, what? 08:56 A Creator? Creator. 08:59 Right. A creator. 09:01 So, the human creation 09:05 or creature is not the creator. 09:11 Now, you and I would say, "Well, duh." 09:17 Obvious, right? 09:19 That all humans are under God. 09:21 One nation under God 09:23 is in the American Pledge of Allegiance, right? 09:26 That idea is such a radical idea that God is the creator 09:34 and all of creation is below him. 09:37 Now, in the ancient world, particularly in the east 09:41 and of course we are talking about a place 09:42 that was in the east, 09:44 they had some thing called the emperor cult 09:47 where they would worship the emperor. 09:50 And so, actually this becomes more of practice, 09:56 I think as time goes by. 09:58 In the second century we have an interesting story 10:00 of a man named Polycarp who refuses to offer incense. 10:07 Now, what was this incense that they were offering? 10:10 If you read his story-- it's a beautiful story. 10:12 You can find it on the web if you want, or in books, 10:14 "The Martyrdom of Polycarp." 10:16 He was the bishop of the Church of Smyrna. 10:18 He was in his 80's, 86 years old. 10:21 And they bring him-- they're gonna force him- 10:23 they're gonna either kill him or force him to offer incense. 10:26 What's the incense? What is he offering incense to? 10:29 He is offering incense to the guardian deity 10:33 of the emperor called the genius. 10:36 The genius of the emperor 10:38 was the guardian deity of the emperor. 10:40 And so you would offer incense-- it was kind of like 10:43 pledging allegiance to the flag or it was kind of like, 10:47 you know, showing that you were-- 10:51 you accepted the state, you were patriotic. 10:55 But a Christian couldn't do that. 10:57 Because Christians didn't believe in these false gods. 11:00 So, they couldn't offer the incense 11:03 and so the roman officials took this as rebellion 11:06 against the state, you see? 11:10 So, here is this institutions of the state 11:16 and they are not supreme. 11:18 That's the important idea. They are not supreme. 11:20 Now, Peter takes and he reorders all of powers structures. 11:24 You have to study the whole idea of power all through his books. 11:27 But we have graphic that shows three different power structures 11:31 within the state and the first one 11:35 is the super-ordinate power structures. 11:38 There you see at the top is God. And Christ, the Holy Spirit. 11:42 The devil is there, so are spirits and angels. 11:44 These all appear somewhere in 1 Peter 11:47 and they all have different descriptions 11:48 and they are all supporting concepts that support them. 11:52 These are structures that are above the human level, 11:55 Then next one of a slide shows ordinate power structures. 12:01 And these are kings and masters and husbands and elders. 12:04 These are people who are in-- 12:05 we might called middle management. 12:08 They are above the rest of us humans 12:10 but they are below God. Okay? 12:13 Then the group that he has the most to say to, 12:15 are the subordinate people, 12:17 the people who are at the bottom of the totem pole, 12:20 you might say. 12:21 And these include you, as a Christians, 12:24 all Christians, the savants, the wives, 12:26 and the young people and they are all called on 12:28 to submit to the powers that are above them. 12:31 But there is one important concept 12:34 that we have to keep in mind here about this, 12:37 and that is the God is at the pinnacle power 12:41 and every thing else is below him. 12:43 So, Peter subverts the power structures 12:48 of the Roman Empire while at the same time telling 12:54 the Christian people to submit to these power structures. 13:00 It's amazing. 13:01 You know, he subverts the power structures 13:04 while at the same time telling people to be good citizen. 13:09 Well, why don't we talk more about this-- 13:11 this power structure and submitting to authorities 13:15 after we take a short break and we'll be right back. |
Revised 2014-12-17